High-End audio interface shootout in Sydney

[jeep]

Hey all!

I'm thinking about putting together an audio interface shootout consisting of the following:

Universal Audio Apollo Quad
Apogee Symphony I/O
Avid Native Thunderbolt

and any other company who wishes to be involved.

The shootout would be held in Sydney, the studio and date TBA.

Who would like to be involved?

Cheers,
JP

[Manning]

I can bring an RME UCX to the party.

[Sammas]

Perhaps totally off base, but I would really love to see a comparison of:

Protools Native thunderbolt
Protools HD TDM rig
Protools HDx Rig
Protools 10 running with an UA Apollo.

Tracking 24 channels, monitoring through plugins, headphone mixes, latency, etc, etc.

[mylesgm]

I can't be there but I'll be interested in the outcome of the new PT interfaces against anything else, esp the apollo and the RME

[obutcher]

Sounds like a good shootout JP. Dependent on dates/time I'd be keen.

[peat]

attended a small shootout similar to this a while back
- HD I/O
- 192 I/O
- Symphony I/O
- RME Fireface

Was very interesting what the group consensus on the best converter was.
(Shoot out was blind and running stereo program in and out of each converter)

I believe that HD Native Thunderbolt wont really be any different sounding to any HD series interface as it requires one to do any DA, even for the headphone out on the front. Unless you are talking about shooting out latency/processing power.

[mylesgm]

What were the results Peter? and what do you mean by

"as it requires one to do any DA, even for the headphone out on the front."

[peat]

Oh, I mean you can't load protools without an interface connected to the mini digilink ports on the back of the HD native thunderbolt box.
The headphone jack mirrors outputs 1 and 2 of the interface.
So it's not really a stand alone box.

The result of the test was that everyone thought the RME was by far the best sounding.
But this was just one circumstance, on one day, with a certain bunch of people.
This is when it was solidified to me that you should just get on with playing your music better than worrying about the small differences in converter quality!

[mylesgm]

This is when it was solidified to me that you should just get on with playing your music better than worrying about the small differences in converter quality!

This is what I've always thought. I like gear but I don't wait to have "x" gear to work on music making.

[peat]

Couldn't agree more.

With that said I am still a sucker for shootouts!

[mylesgm]

If I'm in the position to pick the best gear then I want to know which is the best but if I've only got one option thats the option I use without lamentation...

[Manning]

I must admit, if I have cash which I could spend on either a ADDA converter or a really good mic, I'll tend to go for the mic. The fanciest converter can't help a poor mic in a bad room.

But as Peat says, that's no reason to avoid playing with toys.

[Alastair Reynolds]

I reckon we'd want to see something from Prism Sound included in the list, at least an Orpheus

[gigpiglet]

yeah im interested for sure

and can commit the digidesign, lynx and apollo gear
as well as the studio

IF we can pick a date that suits...

[NathS101]

I'm in! I can bring the Burl B2 ADC too if you guys are interested in checking it out...

[ether]

I can throw my Symphony I/O into the ring if needed, though I don't have the mic pres (just analog line ins + digital). Round the corner from gigpiglet if that ends up being the venue.

[Manning]

Anyone got a Metric Halo to play with?

I've been interested in the LIO-8 (although no windows driver yet and I'm *never* buying another Mac).

[Manning]

Reboot.

[NathS101]

Was thinking about this last night actually...